People who create our pasts and our futures
by DemigodDaughterOfTheTARDIS
Summary: Something is wrong, and the Doctor first noticed it at the Frost Fair in 1814. Ever since then, something has been nagging at him... He just can't figure out what it is.


**This is first time writing with Bill, and I have to say I love her so far. She is amazing and hilarious and asks the questions that no one else ever has.**

 **I do not own Doctor Who, I only own the plot.**

"Oh, you've got to try this." The Doctor told Bill, showing her a bit of meat on a skewer. "This is my favorite here."

"What, so you've been here before, then?" Bill asked, giving the alien a look.

"Oh yeah, lots of times." He replied, trying to hide the way that his eyes scanned the crowd, as if searching for a familiar face. And that was when he saw her.

 _The Doctor took me ice skating on the River Thames, in 1814._

She wore a dress of blue with black trim, with a grey cloak over it, and a grey hat with a black and white feather tucked into the band. Her honey-colored curls were piled up on the top of her head in the latest fashion, and even as he watched her browse the stalls, he saw her slip something metallic into her pocket. His smirk grew when she got away without the vendor noticing that she had taken something in the first place. She made her way off across the ice, the humans subconsciously clearing a path for her as she walked by.

Maybe it was from her that this body got its habit of stealing things from.

 _The last of the great Frost Fairs._

"Doctor?" Bill called out, watching him. "Doctor, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost or somethin'."

But her question went unanswered, and she had to hurry to keep up with him as he moved away across the ice.

"Don't wait up." He told her, before leaving her side and disappearing into the crowds.

She watched in confusion as he grabbed ahold of a woman's arm, pulling her back slightly. The woman snapped around at an almost inhuman speed, her gloved fist clenching reflexively at her side. But once she saw the Doctor's face, she relaxed, smiling up at him.

That was all that Bill managed to see before the crowd closed in, leaving her alone in 1814.

8888

It was almost half an hour before she saw the Doctor again.

"There you are!" She called out, and both the grumpy old alien and his friend turned to look at her. "I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me!"

"Yes… Bill. You're here." The Doctor said, and she almost laughed, before she realized he was being serious - he really had forgotten that she was there.

She was going to be upset, but then she noticed the woman's face for the first time, and she was too surprised to be angry. "Hang on, you're the woman! The one in the picture!"

"I'm sorry?" River asked, looking surprised.

"Sorry, it's jus'… he's got a picture of you, in his office." Bill began, not noticing the looks that her tutor and the woman were giving each other - he was blushing slightly, while she was smirking. Of course, once she started talking, she couldn't stop. "You're a lot hotter in person, by the way. Or is that wrong for me to say? Isn't lesbianism a crime or somethin' here?

She let out a laugh, low and throaty, and Bill swore that she felt a shiver go down her spine. "Oh yes." River said cheerfully. "But then again, that's never stopped me in the past."

"Oi, stop it." The Doctor said, turning to look at his wife. "Would you stop bantering? I'm against bantering this go 'round."

"You love it." River argued playfully, leaning her head against his shoulder. He couldn't help but smile as he looked down at his wife, the woman who he thought he would never see again.

But he huffed, pretending to be annoyed. "I suppose if I must."

"Sorry, but… I never asked. Who exactly are you?" Bill asked, looking at River curiously.

"Nobody of importance, apparently." River said, giving her husband a Look.

The Doctor sighed. "Wife, meet Bill. Bill, meet the wife."

"Lovely to meet you." River said, but Bill was stuck on a detail.

" _She's_ your wife?" Bill asked, looking completely gobsmacked. But the Time Lord didn't answer, too distracted by his wife to pay his student and friend any attention.

"So what exactly are you doing here, Doctor?" River asked with a smirk, pushing a single curl back behind her ear.

"Oh, you know me, dear. Always looking for trouble."

She smiled knowingly. "Finally noticed the lights under the ice?" She asked, moving over to another stall that displayed lovely woolen scarves.

"How'd you know about those?" Bill asked, looking intrigued.

But River just laughed. "We've been here before a few times by now. It's just taken him this long to notice them. Bless." she laid a hand on her husband's shoulder, looking up at him fondly even as he scowled down at her. She picked up one of the scarves, wrapping it around his shoulders.

"What do you think of this one, Bill?" she asked.

"Yeah, it looks good." She replied distractedly. "Sorry, but are you _really_ his wife? Cos you don't look like it."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" The Doctor said, his larger than life eyebrows furrowing together as they walked away from the stall.

"For starters, have you seen her?" Bill asked, and River laughed even as the Doctor frowned.

"Of course I've seen her, I damn well married her." The Doctor said. "My wee psychopath, she is. What's your other reason?"

"She just stole that scarf." Bill pointed out, smiling.

The Doctor looked down at his neck, where the deep blue scarf sat. "So she did." He noticed, turning and tapping her on the nose fondly. "Bloody menace."

River smiled, curtseying demurely. "Thank you, sweetie." She said, and Bill laughed. Then they heard an indignant shout behind them, and turned around to see the merchant from the stall where River had stolen the scarf.

"Oops!" River said, picking up her skirts slightly. "Time to run." And with that, she grabbed ahold of the Doctor's hand, dragging him along behind her as they made their way across the ice.

8888

There had been something nagging at him ever since they had run into River at the Frost Fair. Something important, that he should have realized.

He was piloting the TARDIS once more, trying to find another adventure when he figured it out.

Well, really, he didn't figure it out. Bill came into the console room, wearing a familiar red cloak with white fur trim. "Check me out!" she said, twirling around. "I'm Mrs. Claus!"

He took one look at his companion, and he remembered.

 _Doesn't look very impressive, does he? Nardole, what have you brought to my doorstep?_

She hadn't seen this face before. Before Darillium, she hadn't even known that he had an entire new set of regenerations. Which meant only one thing, really.

The River Song that he had met at the Frost Fair this time was from after Darillium.

But that couldn't be. He had dropped her off for her expedition to the Library after Darillium. It had been nearly impossible to let her leave the TARDIS, but he had somehow managed. Which meant that she hadn't had a chance to go back to the Frost Fair. Unless...

"No." He muttered to himself, clutching at the console while Bill and Nardole looked at him in confusion. "No, stupid Doctor."

"Did you forget to turn off the kettle again or somethin'?" Bill asks, and he turns to look at her, eyebrows furrowing together. "Cause you usually only get mad at yourself like that when you did somethin' ridiculous like leave the kettle on."

"No, no, no!" The Doctor replied, running a hand through his hair. "She was there, she was! Nardole, she was there!"

"Sir?" Nardole asked, not sure exactly what the last of the Time Lords was talking about.

"Is it possible that she survived the Library, Nardole." The Doctor asked, turning to face his robotic nursemaid.

"Normally, I'd say that there's no way anyone could survive that." Nardole replied, and for some reason outside of Bill's knowledge that seemed to give the Doctor hope.

"Yes, but?" The Doctor prompted, and Nardole sighed.

"But Professor Song is not anyone." the bald man admitted, and the Doctor smiled.

"Exactly." he said, beginning his usual dash around the console. "Let's go find a psychopath, shall we?"

8888

River Song looked up from where she sat on,the back porch of their little house on Darillium as soon as the distinctive wheezing, groaning sound of the TARDIS could be heard. She smiled as the Old Girl opened her doors, allowing the cold blue light to spill out into the night air.

"Took you long enough, my love." she said, marking her place in her diary before getting up to go to her husband.

"Sorry I'm late, honey." The Doctor replied, with all of the charm that he had thought he had lost with his regeneration. "Traffic was hell."

 **This is the first piece I've written for a little while. I'm not particularly thrilled with how it ended, but I could probably edit it for another three weeks and not be completely satisfied.**


End file.
